In the World of Sword and Magic as Space Marine

Chapter 92: Cain’s Adventure Part 1

[Please read the author's thought]

Cain and his band of troops adventure into the lower level of the city. Well, it is more of a sewer system but considering how large the tunnel is, Cain now believed that terminator armor can venture through this system without any trouble.

"We are lost." One of the adventurer girls said out loud after realizing that they are lost. Because they had been to the sewer system before the leader of the adventurers took the lead but unfortunately, they realized they are lost and had been circling for half an hour.

"I'm not a professional navigator but I'm certain we've been circling for a while," Cain said to the girls and step forward to take the lead. Unknown to everyone, Cain grew up as an hiver from an unknown hive city before joining Schola Progenium and has an instinct regarding negativing underground systems or tunnels.

"And how do you know where you are going?" Tina asked Cain in an attempt to hide her guilty face since she is the one who leads the group.

"Because this isn't my first time when it comes to the underground tunnel system. Also, looks like your green friend isn't feeling great." Cain points his thumb toward the mage girl who is distancing herself from Jurgen as she is slowly losing her power.

"Oh no, Enyall. Quick, drink a health potion." Tina Went to her friend in the back of the line and at the same time, Jurgen went to the front to be next to Cain.

"Sir, I think I see something coming," Jurgen spoke out loud and position his lasgun to aim toward something coming in their way.

"Everyone, ready your weapons. We have a company." Cain gave his order and all of his guardsmen ready their lasguns in formation. After a few seconds of waiting, the group saw a band of Kobolds with wooden shields and rusty swords.

"It's filthy Xenos, kill them all." Cain gave his command and fire his laspistol at the same time. Without hesitation, all of the guardsmen fire their weapons including Jurgen, killing all of the Kobolds in a matter of seconds. When the flashing light of the lasguns stop flashing, two of the guardsmen approach the dead Xenos to make sure they are dead. Meanwhile, adventurers were simply baffled by the effectiveness of the weapon of the Imperium.

"Sir, all of the Xenos are dead but after checking their bodies, it seems they were in some sort of combat before encountering us." A young sergeant with an augmented left eye reported back to Cain. Hearing this, Cain turns around to speak with Tina.

"You told me no one ventures through this system," Cain spoke with a calm but authoritative voice. He usually uses this tone of voice when he needs to present his position of power but also needs to be a humble hero of the Imperium around his men.

"They shouldn't be any. We killed any monsters last time and it was only a few goblins. Kobolds were never been seen before. Ever." Tina explained to Cain and others behind her agreed with her. With one hard exhale, Cain node his head and reposition his commissar hat then turn around.

"It was expected but we are now in unknown territory with an unknown number of enemies. Including humanoid Xenos. I will be taking the lead now and I expect you to follow and help us the best you can. If not, our agreement is terminated immediately, literally." With a hard message delivered, Cain led the group further underground. Using his natural sense of direction, Cain managed to break the loophole of circling and went in a different direction.

After another half hour of travel, the group reached a chamber where it was divided into two separate ways. After looking left and right for a few minutes, Cain picked the right way and one of the Valhllan Ice Warriors asked him why he picked that path.

"Because you can feel the flow of air coming through this path. Also, because it is the 'right' path." Cain gave smiled and hold his laspistol and chainsword in case someone or something jumps at him in the corner. Hearing a lame joke, a few of the Valhallans and Jurgen chucked and join Cain while adventurer girls follow them in silence after hearing the joke.

Feeling the decline of the path, the group ventured deeper and found themselves in some sort of wide hallway with four doors on each side. Jurgen was about to open the first door on the right when Cain stopped him before grabbing the door handle.

"Wait, is it possible the door could be rigged with the trap of sorts. Sergeant." Cain calls the sergeant to which the young sergeant points out his soldiers to check for traps using a scammer. After quick scanning for a hidden trap, the trooper found a thin line of wire above the door frame. Using his wire cutter, the soldier cut the line, disarming the trap which everyone found out was rigged to pour oil and lit person on fire right after.

"That is some old-school trap mechanism," Jurgen spoke with an impressed tone and took the point to enter the room with his lasgun ready. Using his flashlight attached to his weapon, Jurgen scan the room and found nothing except for a few boxes.

"Room is clear, sir." Jurgen gave clear to Cain and most of them entered the room except for two guardsmen staying outside to watch the exit.

The room was big and after checking the boxes, they found nothing but old building materials such as nearly rotten wooden boards, rusty nails, and few construction tools. After looking around, Cain was about to recall everyone to move out when suddenly one of the soldiers screamed and began to fire his lasgun at something attached to his left leg.

"Get this thing off of me." The soldier screamed and every one turn their light source around to find the soldier fighting a greenish blue jelly attached to his left leg and slowly dissolving the leg using acid-like liquid.

"It's a Gelatinous Cube! The fire and salt are the weakness." Tina pass the information to everyone but it was useless since lasgun's hot plasma did the work and quickly killed the creature after two shots.

"Medic! Check the Henderson. Everyone double-check your area for more creatures." Sergeant ordered his men and scan the area one more time. Cain and Jurgen did the same and soon they realized why they missed the jelly creature the first time. Seeping from the small cracks from the multiple walls, greenish blue liquids came out with tiny orbs centering and creating a cube shape.

"Well, no wonder we missed it. This darn room is ambush ready to happen." Cain spoke and everyone fire their lasguns precisely to kill the monster and to save their power cells. The girls did their job as they use their torches to burn the jelly as a group and watched each other's back. In a matter of a few minutes, the monsters stop coming out from the wall and everyone quickly left the room, Jurgen was the last person to close the door.

"Thank you, Jurgen. Sergeant, how is private Henderson?" Cain asked the young sergeant.

"He will be fine sir. It was a simple chemical burn but he has seen worse than that. medic already patched him with the burn, but for his pants, not even regiment doctor could save it." The sergeant told Cain and after hearing the last remark, Cain saw Henderson standing up with his left part of the pants destroyed up to his kneel.

"Just glad that we didn't lose our man. On the other hand, the quartermaster will be upset when he found out we destroy part of the uniform due to a living acid-like-chemical" Cain's joke made everyone laugh while Henderson bitterly express it since this was his favorite and fitting uniform. For Imperial guardsmen, uniforms are either small or big size and it is impossible to be given a perfectly fitting uniform without going through the entire supply room.

"Okay, lesson learned and ready to put on the test. Let's check the rest of the room and move out." Cain gave an order and everyone prepare themselves to check the rest of the rooms.

The second room didn't have any traps or monsters but it was filled with small tables with papers and writing materials. It was the architect's room and after a few digging around, Jurgen found a half-finished map which Cain gladly accepted and read it.

The third room was the kitchen and mess hall. The room had multiple tables and a fireplace to cook simple meals for the workers. Because the underground was made by dwarfs, the tables and kitchen were small in size and after close examination, the party didn't find anything interesting.

The fourth room was sleeping quarters and just like the kitchen and architect's room, the beds were small sizes and it was a mess. As if something recently used this room, the sleeping quarter was a complete mess as if a powerful storm passed by.

"Look." A ranger from the adventurer group said and pick up the object on the floor. On her hand was a crudely made knife and the blade had dry blood on it.

"It looks like the blade was used a couple of days ago. Not sure who's blood it is but it seems like the owner of the blade might be a goblin." Tina said after observing the knife.

"Gobin? What is that and how do you know?" Sergeant asked Tina and she point her finger at the blade which had multiple small holes.

"Goblins are small green creatures and savage. They usually attack as a group to outnumber their enemy. As for the blade, the goblins make these kinds of holes on their blades to make them lighter to use them. It is kind of strange to not find any corpses."

"So, they are Gretchins. Maybe they drag the dead to eat later." Jurgen commented out loud to which girls winced at the idea but Valhallans simply grunted when they realized the blade belonged to greenskins.

"Damn filthy greenskins." The sergeant said to himself and spit to the side with disgust.

Valhallans' natural enemy is Orks due to their home planet being infested long ago. They managed to win the planet but occasionally the Orc warbands do appear and Planet Defense Force (PDF) has to purge them each time. Ever since then, Valhallans and Orcs became natural enemies with Valhallans becoming experts at killing greenskins.

"We are done with here. Let's move out." Cain said to everyone and left the room. With all the room checked and finding some kind of map, Cain, and Jurgen takes the point of the line and explores further into the hallway.

Going further and exploring a few more rooms, the party again found themselves on two separate paths. Path to the left and right, the party once again wait patiently while Cain silently made his decision on which path to take. After a few minutes of silence, Jurgen spoke next to Cain in a whisper.

"Tanna, sir?" Jurgen handed the flask with warm Tanna tea which Cain accepted and took drank with small comfort.

After enjoying the smell of the sour and unique tea, Cain closes the flask and returns it to Jurgen. Just after Cain pass the flask, his nose smelled something familiar and it wasn't Jurgen's. The smell of the scent was iron and right away, Cain smelled blood and it was fresh in the air to his left.

"The smell of the blood is coming from the left path. It is possible that victim and greenskins went towards that direction." Cain said to Jurgen and gather everyone to move out. Not knowing what is ahead, the party took every precaution such as Cain pulling out his chainsword and Jurgen bringing out his meltagun.

After a few minutes to slow approach to the end of the hallway, the party finally reached the big wooden door. Cain node to Jurgen and two men kick the door to enter the room with weapons ready while the rest of the party joins them from behind.

The first thing Cain realized was the smell as the room was filled with a powerful stench of blood and gore. The second thing he and the rest of the party realized is that the room was massacred with two dozen corpses of greenskins (Orcs and goblins). Lastly, a large man was kneeling in the middle of the room. The man was holding a power sword with a black hilt and to Cain's surprise, he wasn't wearing power armor but based on the clothes the man belong to Black Templars. The man lifts his head to see the newcomers and after a few seconds, he spoke simple words.

"By the Emperor's light. Based on your expression you weren't expecting me."